World Peace

Is world peace possible? And can one person make a difference? Whether it’s 10-year-old Samantha Smith urging a world leader to avoid war or Mahandas Gandhi peacefully working for India’s independence, many individuals have made a difference in creating a more peaceful world. Learn the stories behind the world’s peacemakers and peacekeepers and find out ways you can make a more peaceful world through the direct links on the Times Launch Point Web site, https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/

Level 1

Samantha Smith, America’s Youngest Ambassador: In 1983, 10-year-old Samantha Smith wrote a letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov about her concerns of a nuclear war occurring between the United States and Russia. Marvel at what this girl achieved as she traveled to the Soviet Union and wrote a book about her experiences.

https://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_for_children/17086

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes--World Peace Project: Why has a paper crane become a symbol for peace? Find out by reading the story of 12-year-old Sadako Sasaki, a survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, whose efforts in creating 1,000 paper cranes have inspired children all over to work for peace.

https://www.sadako.org/SadakoHome.htm

Children’s Posters on Tolerance: How can tolerance lead to a peaceful future? Find out what tolerance is and how being tolerant can be helpful in everyday situations through this series of games.

https://www.unesco.org/tolerance/children.htm

Level 2

MidLink Magazine: “I Have a Dream Too!” Mahandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela are three men known for their peaceful efforts for effecting change. Learn about these three famous peacemakers, read an essay about an ancient peacemaker from Italy and enjoy some stories by students describing their dreams of peace and hopes for the future.

https://longwood.cs.ucf.edu/~MidLink/index.feb97.html

Peace Process 2001: Austrian writer and peace activist Bertha von Suttner was the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize; in fact, her accomplishments inspired Alfred Nobel to create the peace prize in the first place. Learn about movers, shakers and peacemakers like Cesar Chavez and Dorothy Day, find out about today’s hot spots and efforts for peace and read essays about the future of world peace.

https://library.advanced.org/11688/cgi-bin/main.cgi

Peace Day: The Peace Poem: “Peace is a rainbow of color/In a world of black. If you want world peace, Put your temper on a leash.” Read more nuggets of wisdom from this poem created by students from all over the world as part of the United Nations International Day of Peace.

https://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/peaceday/poem.htm

Level 3

Electronic Field Trip to the United Nations: It was U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt who came up with the name ‘United Nations,” a title first used when 26 nations banded together as allies during World War II and which later became an official organization Oct. 24, 1945. Find out what the United Nations is doing to promote world peace through this collection of resources, which includes information on current peacekeeping operations as well as strategies for negotiation and mediation.

https://www.pbs.org/tal/un

Nobel Peace Prize Winners: Mother Teresa, Linus Pauling, the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are just a few whose outstanding efforts for peace have been recognized with the Nobel Prize. Get inspired by the stories of all the Nobel Peace Prize winners from 1901 to the present through this site, which includes photos, biographies and historical resources.

https://www.nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/

UNICEF--Voices of Youth: What do young people around the world feel about war, child labor and children’s rights? Find out through drawings, interviews, photographs and online discussions of what people can do to help solve these problems.

https://www.unicef.org/voy/

EXPLORER’S QUEST

The answer to this Internet quiz can be found in the sites at right.

Which U.S. presidents have won Nobel Peace Prizes? CLUE: See Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Find What You Need to Know: Have a project on California history? Need help doing a math problem? Launch Point now covers more than 100 topics for getting your schoolwork done. Go to https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/ for the full list of subjects and direct links to the best Internet sites.

Answer to last week’s Quest: If you were to stretch all your chromosomes in every cell end to end, it would cover the distance to the moon and back 6,000 times.

Launch Point is produced by the UC Irvine department of education, which reviews each site for appropriateness and quality. Even so, parents should supervise their children’s use of the Internet. This column was designed by Kelly Young, Christine Boehm, Stephanie Swan and Anna Manring.